“Unfortunately, you’ve grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s at the root of all our problems. Some of these same voices also do their best to gum up the works. They’ll warn that tyranny always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices. Because what they suggest is that our brave, and creative, and unique experiment in self-rule is somehow just a sham with which we can’t be trusted.

“We have never been a people who place all our faith in government to solve our problems. We shouldn’t want to. But we don’t think the government is the source of all our problems, either. Because we understand that this democracy is ours. And as citizens, we understand that it’s not about what America can do for us, it’s about what can be done by us, together, through the hard and frustrating but absolutely necessary work of self-government. And class of 2013, you have to be involved in that process.”

The president advises that we “should reject these voices” that suggest tyranny is always lurking around the corner. Right. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain – he’s only there to help you, not terrorize you into undertaking pointless and dangerous quests like Oz did to Dorothy. And above all, whatever you do, don’t listen to those silly tinfoil hat wearers who accuse the government of tyranny.

What is wrong with people that they can’t recognize tyranny even when it bites them in the butt? Stalin had nothing but contempt for the “useful idiots” who supported him. These pawns promoted his goals but did not perceive the bigger picture, and Stalin murdered them once their usefulness ended. Similarly, our politicians court the votes of the useful idiots on the left who are unable to grasp the finer points of what an economic collapse will be like and the horror of the Stalinesque government that will rise from the ashes. Instead, they cheer it on and call it “progress.”

I have no doubt that Stalin told his people, with a straight face, that they should reject the voices that warned of tyranny lurking around the corner. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Obama’s remarks underscore the disconnect between the type of government outlined in the Constitution and the type of government we have today. The “self-rule” Obama mentions does not mean government rule. It means the power is in the people, not the government. Duh!!

Self-rule means the government’s sole and exclusive purpose is to safeguard our God-given rights, and that’s all. When it expands beyond that, then it does indeed become a “separate, sinister entity that’s at the root of all our problems.”

So what are some problems, both here and in Europe, that are rooted in government? Obviously the list is huge, but here’s a start:

Despite its massive unpopularity, Obamacare is being forced down our throats. Not only does this program jeopardize doctors and patients, but it will vastly reduce medical research and innovation. When asked to describe the current medical system in America, a physician friend said, “Costly and imperfect, but dynamic and innovative. In surrendering individual responsibility (to the government), you also surrender individual autonomy. Ask the government to assume responsibility for your life and it will do exactly that. You will belong to it.”

This doctor has worked in other countries where socialized medicine is the norm. What’s it like to practice under national health care? “I was prohibited (prohibited!) from performing caesarian sections, from ordering CT scans or echocardiograms. … I had to work from a ridiculously limited prescription formulary. The hoops that had to be jumped through to get anything done were time consuming and demeaning. The system infuriated patients and providers alike.”

“But we don’t think the government is the source of all our problems,” said Obama in his commencement speech. Death panels are fake, and anyone who disagrees is wearing a tinfoil hat.

In fact, we can look to socialist Europe as an excellent precedent for the type of government we can expect if the progressives have their way. Sweden and Germany are unspeakably brutal to homeschooling families – people who love their children so much they want to teach them themselves. For this crime, socialist governments cruelly rip families apart, impose fines and jail time and claim it’s for the good of society.

Meanwhile, in the insane push to remove guns from the hands of American citizens, the government is ignoring the truth: Areas with the highest gun violence are areas with the strictest gun laws. This is because criminals (I know this will shock you) don’t pay attention to gun laws. “The gun ban had an unintended effect,” wrote journalist and attorney Jeffrey Scott Shapiro, speaking about gun control in Washington, D.C. “It emboldened criminals because they knew that law-abiding District residents were unarmed and powerless to defend themselves.” Duh!

Now we learn the Europe Commission is proposing legislation that would make it illegal “to grow, reproduce or trade” any vegetable seeds that have not been “tested, approved and accepted” by a new EU bureaucracy named the “EU Plant Variety Agency.”

Illegal?! I’m sorry, do backyard vegetable gardens pose a continental threat that needs to be addressed by the European Commission? Are “unapproved” plants a big problem in Europe? How can anyone claim this legislation is even remotely necessary? While it remains to be seen whether this legislation has a snowball’s chance in hell of passing, I must seriously question the sanity of whoever proposed it. But meanwhile, can’t you can see Monsanto salivating at the thought of bringing this kind of legislation to the U.S.?

See? As Europe has learned, and we’re finding out, government tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. Europe is ahead of us, but the pace is increasing here. And anyone who claims otherwise, like Obama, is no more believable than the Wizard of Oz instructing Dorothy to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

So when Obama says we should “reject these voices” that “warn that tyranny always lurking just around the corner,” what he’s really saying is, “Pay no attention to us as we systematically dismantle the Constitution and Bill of Rights and turn America into Europe. And if you do look behind the curtain and see us pulling the levers, we’ll accuse you of being tinfoil-hat-wearing racists.”

I have a feeling the solution is a little deeper than clicking our ruby slippers and saying, “There’s no place like home.”

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